Preserving the Cayman Islands: A Conversation with Jaci Patrick on Sustainability by Qamar Zaman

You are now listening to the Subject Matter Expert Podcast, Coffee with Q, and this is your host, Qamar Zaman. Hello everyone, this is your host, Qamar Zaman, on Coffee with Q. Today I have the pleasure of having Miss World Cayman Islands 2019 and 2020 and 2021. JC Patrick is an associate with Cayman Story. That's her professional job. And before that, she was— we call her the Queen. So the Queen is here, and today she's going to talk about sustainability, especially in the Cayman Islands. So let's hear From JC Patrick, former Miss World Cayman Islands. Welcome.

Hi, Qamar. Welcome, Cayman. Thank you so much for joining me and hearing my story. So, Qamar, as you know, I was Miss World Cayman Islands 2019 to 2021, and I did a lot of advocating for mental health advocating for sustainability and the environment. And that really was one of my passions, and it still is, because I grew up on a very small island, the Cayman Islands, of course. And, you know, watching the development from now— from then till now, I should say— has been major. And I think that when I was a contestant, you know, I did see the effects of climate change, the effects of pollution, the effects of losing our mangroves, of overdevelopment. And really, that's where my passion came from. So it was to inspire and really just, you know, put towards action to be able to, you know, preserve our local heritage and the environment. So I partnered with Plastic Free Cayman and Protect Our Future, and they were kind of my organizations that I worked with. I was working with them for about 5 years. I was Miss Cayman for about 2, and I ended up just continuing working with them. I've done major fundraising events, beach cleanups, and ideally, with what I said, you know, having that experience and seeing firsthand, that's really where my advocacy came from.

Awesome. Thank you so much. And a big shout out to Plastic Free K-Man and JC Patrick, because sustainability is really, really important.

Yes.

And a lot of people don't understand that. So help us understand from a point of somebody who doesn't understand, because there are a lot of people, they don't understand sustainability. So help us Help the audience rather understand what is sustainability to you first.

Well, sustainability for me is, like I said, protecting my environment. I grew up being from a small island and I've seen the changes. And sustainability for me is really being able to advocate for the environment, to change my ways, to adopt new models, to also educate you know, the younger generation to really just respect our environment, not just respect, but protect our environment. There's something that I always say, you fight for what you love, right? So I love the Cayman Islands. It's my pride. It's my joy. And, you know, this environment has been something that's been around for so long. And we have pristine beaches. We have pristine landscapes. And, you know, these are things that we do need to really protect. So sustainability for me is simply protecting what you love.

Absolutely. So let's go on to the second topic that's very close to you, and you were actually supporting plastic pollution. Help us understand that, and then how does Cayman Islands solve that problem?

Well, from what I've seen, the Cayman Islands has had a plastic pollution problem for decades now, and in my opinion, One of the most pressing issues related to plastic pollution in Cayman really is for us to have a well-developed recycling program. Cayman has made way in terms of recycling, in terms of waste management. However, I think there's definitely more that can be done, and really it's about educating our community on how to protect our environment. How to recycle, how to be more sustainable. And I think that it starts with a conversation, a conversation that leads to action. You know, as a community, we should take pride in our, you know, environment, take pride in our island because we live in such a beautiful place and it's something that we don't want to see destroyed. So again, with the plastic pollution, I've seen so many beach sites where There's simply, you know, trash just thrown around, or the biggest problem would be the microplastics. You know, those are things that you can't necessarily pick up on a beach cleanup. There's so many of them. So we do still have a problem. However, we are making strides to solve that problem.

Very interesting. Plastics are not good for you. Even people say that, you know, when you drink water in the bottle, If it's being kept outside, you know, you can build cancers. So what you're doing is really, really good. Tell us, how are people— how is the government or the local authorities recycling that? Educate us on that.

Well, we do have a recycling program, and I do believe that it is owned and run by DART. So I've actually done some research on this and I did work in Cayman Bay a couple of years ago, so I got to see their recycling program. And like I mentioned, they are making strides. However, we still do have the problem of, you know, the dump. And I think that in order for us to really solve that problem, it takes more than just a company and an organization. I think it takes a community.

Mm-hmm.

It takes conversations, you know, it takes education. So I think that Cayman is doing a great job in recycling. I've seen that most of the supermarkets here do have recycle bins. But again, if you're not educated on how to recycle or educated on waste management, you're not going to know how to do it or what you should actually put in recycling from what you shouldn't. So So again, Qaymaan really is making strides, but I think that educating our community on how to do it properly would be key to solving the problem.

Thank you for educating us and about the, how things are getting solved. I always think about, and this is something that I will segue into social media.

Yeah.

Long time ago, about 20 years ago, there was a big question in social media, especially— and this is an idea for you as well as sharing it with the young people— when you start on social media, for example, TikTok or Instagram, how do you become viral, right?

Mm-hmm.

So one of the key techniques that I learned was if you take a t-shirt, okay, and you put your cause on the t-shirt, if some people are willing to wear it, it's going to become viral. So for sure, if you put, you know, plastic-free Cayman and wear a t-shirt, everybody would want to wear that. So that's a tip from my side of the digital world where I help people tell their stories. So Cayman young kids, young adults, even I think old people or like my age are, you know, we are more cautious, but young people don't really care. But I see now that younger generation is becoming sustainability cautious, you know. So I think that's your generation is definitely do that. What are some of the future initiatives that you are seeing and you would like the audience to know and get support for?

So some of the initiatives I've seen is, like I mentioned, the recycling program at Dart. And, you know, if If they developed that educational program, I think we would actually have more people recycling. I've also seen many of the grocery stores now cutting down on plastic, now cutting down on having, you know, the plastic bags. We now have the recycle bags. There's also Protect Our Future, and that's actually a branch of Plastic Free Cayman. And what Protect Our Future does is quite similar to Plastic Free. However, it is educating the youth. So while Plastic Free deals more with organizations, companies, individuals, really being able to get to the youth and being able to solve their problems and speak about their issues, I think Protect Our Future was a really good organization to do that. So they've also taught people the importance of also beach erosion. So they would have campaigns for that as well. They have also campaigned for the destruction of the reef and the mangroves, the overdevelopment. So I think as millennials and Gen Zs, we are more environmentally cautious, more sustainable, because we, especially for me, We grew up seeing the different changes. And I think Kaimanyans, we're starting to really see what is happening on our island and see how the effects of climate change is really starting to affect us and our community. And I think we are starting to come together to be able to fix it and advocate it and also educate other people, especially young people, because I always believed that You know, you have to leave information and knowledge for the next generation because they are the future. You know, we are the ones that are teaching them how to grow and how to thrive in this community. So I think that what our youth is doing right now, raising their voices and having something to say about sustainability or any other cause that they're, you know, passionate about, I think that that's a really good thing. And I think we should always support young Zamanians and young people around the world to speak about issues like this.

Very nice. Um, on this different subject, um, 2 weeks ago we had some bad weather.

Yes.

And then, you know, the wave heights were really high and a lot of water was coming in. That— is that the reason that because of, you know, uh, there's so much construction going on that, uh, you know, the mangroves are gone and as a result, can you Give some light on that, educate people on that.

Absolutely. So yes, a lot of our mangroves have been completely torn down for development. And what the mangroves actually do in Cayman is they create a barrier. They create almost like a seawall where if it's bad weather like we did a couple weeks ago, those mangroves actually break down the waves. It breaks down that weather. So for communities and for condos and apartments or anyone living next to the beach, they had that wall to be able to protect them. Now, because of the overdevelopment, we don't have that kind of protection anymore. So for me, it was quite shocking to see such a small, you know, tropical disturbance cause so much issues, you know.

Mm-hmm.

And a lot of it really does have to do with development, but also the beach erosion. So we've lost so many of our beaches. I know, you know, the strip of where the Marriott is, the beach is completely gone there.

Yeah.

So it has to do with overdevelopment, yes, but also what weather we're experiencing, because that really does, um, it doesn't help with the beach erosion, you know. So we just What I've seen is that with any type of smaller tropical storm or Category 1, or even just a cold front like we had, we're now experiencing more effects from that than we did before.

Yeah, climate change has made a big impact on these things. On a different note, something that everybody likes to know about is I've seen In the local grocery stores, some Kamanians have developed products for sustainability, like the bowls that you put your food in, and then you eat the bowl or the spoons. Do you know anything about that? I know I saw somewhere in Kamanabe.

Yeah, so I'm, I'm super proud, um, and it is called Eco Eats Kaman. So one of the girls from Girl Power, which is, um, a committee that I'm on, For raising awareness, educating young women. So she actually— her name is Manu, and I've seen her go from a very shy person to now owning her own business. So she was a very amazing environmental advocacy. Like, she advocated for the environment, she advocated for, you know, Meals on Wheels. So she did a lot in the community. And what I found is that Manu, she basically solved the problem of how we can stop using single-use plastics. And that was something that Protect Our Future actually petitioned for. So Eco Eats Cayman is a really cool business. I've got to try the spoons. I haven't tried the bowls yet, but I think it's a really amazing idea. I think it's something that is out of the box. And it's something that not only helps our island, but just by simply having a product like that, it teaches, you know, it teaches our community that there can be other ways that we can be sustainable, that we can recycle, that we can protect our environment. So I think Manu did an incredible job of creating a very sustainable business.

Big shout out to Manu and Eco-Eats Cayman. Well, thank you, JC Patrick. This was good. Uh, we will keep bringing you on different subjects because you are the local journalist on the ground, uh, and to help us get to more— know more about the Cayman Islands. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Qamar. Thank you for allowing me to be on your podcast to talk about the environment and, you know, my advocacy for the environment, for local heritage. And, you know, I'm just hoping that I can educate young women, young men, the youth, you know, the next generation to protect our island, protect our local heritage, because you, you guys are the future. So thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much. And we will see you next time.

See you next time. Thank you.

Thank you. This podcast is brought to you by Coffee with Q. And Cayman's story. So if you have a story to tell, like what JC did, contact us, coffeewithq.org. Thank you.